


a bright sun in the dark

by wereheretostay



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, be still my heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:06:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8983714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wereheretostay/pseuds/wereheretostay
Summary: Her lips pucker with no hesitation and a soft answer falls out, "Why am I Stardust?" (Or, a desperate attempt to write myself some form of closure)





	

"Papa, papa, tuck me in?" The delicate voice of his baby girl brings Galen back from whatever daydream he was lost in. Perhaps it would be better suited as a nightmare, but it doesn't much matter now that his eyes are looking at the muted glow of the datapad in front of him instead of the smoke-blurred and desolate horizon that his mind had shown him. 

He turns around to see his daughter poking her dark head around the corner, wide green eyes that have had their innocence stolen from them gazing up at him. Her young face is already hardened but still she seems to emit a child-like glow in the twilight of the doorway. Her pale skin tinted florid as if she had bounded all the way down the hall, which she probably had - her energy seems to come from an unknown and eternal source. She has a stuffed toy dangling from two tiny fingers and a blanket swallowing her up, leaving only her head and two small hands exposed. 

With old bones creaking like trees in a storm, Galen pushes himself out of his chair and walks over to his daughter, swooping her up in an embrace. "Of course, my Stardust." He lifts her over his head, his fingers squeezing her sides lightly to tickle her. The sound of her giggles and soft squeals hit his ears, a sound that spikes something warm and comforting and familiar in a space below his collarbone. She settles her head in the junction of his neck and shoulder and he can feel her breath hitting his skin and he pulls her tighter to him. 

It was never something he had thought he would have gotten used to, domestic life. He hadn't even thought it something tangible when Jyn was first born in the midst of the Clone Wars. Life had been dreary back then, as if a black cloth had been draped over the world and was permitting only routine work and weary bodies. Memories of affection and contentment were hard for Galen to recall before he had moved Jyn and Lyra to Lah'mu. Now, in this new life of calm saline seas and eastern sunrises, he finds himself kissing his wife deeper and hugging his daughter tighter. Something warm and full has bloomed in his chest, and it's growing by each day, cultivated by the pure joy he sees in the smiles and laughter that fill his home. 

He can't imagine giving any of this up for anything.

Galen's footsteps are quiet as he walks down the hall to Jyn's room. He knows Lyra must be asleep in the adjacent room, so he presses a finger to Jyn's lips and closes the door behind them. With a hand stroking the back of her head, he sets his sleepy daughter on her bed and pulls the blankets up around her collarbone. He tucks a stuffed Tauntaun under her right arm, an R2 droid in under her left. Once Jyn's contented sigh tells him she's comfortable, he rests a palm on her temple and thumbs away a small curl before leaning back to see Jyn peering up at him with her brow slightly furrowed. 

Placing his hands on his thighs, he asks, "What story would you like me to tell you tonight?" 

Her lips pucker with no hesitation and a soft answer falls out, "Why am I Stardust?" 

A small smile sneaks its way onto Galen's lips and he inhales deeply, gaze wandering to the small window on the wall. The nebulous air is tinted a salty green, drawing him back to Jyn's expectant eyes. "Well, stardust is at the beginning and the end of everything - every single thing in the universe, even you and me and Mama, have a little bit of it in us. When you were born, I looked into your eyes and saw a galaxy. You were a bright sun in the dark. I think you," Galen says with a gentle tap on Jyn's nose, "were made with just a little extra of the stars in you."

Jyn screws up her nose in a delicate smile; the small smattering of freckles between her brows dance with this new revelation. "I'm made of stars, Papa?" 

"Yes, baby, you are." He leans down to press a kiss to her forehead. "You most definitely are, my Stardust."

**Author's Note:**

> no I didn't cry multiple times while writing this 
> 
> I woke up at three am and decided that I needed to write out a little something about Jyn and Galen, so I did! These two are oh so precious to me and my brain is telling me, "Write more! Write more! Rip your soul up into even smaller pieces!" and I shall obey 
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed :)


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